Dàshèng lǐqù liù bōluómìduō jīng 大乘理趣六波羅蜜多經
Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Principle-Aim Six Perfections by 般若 Prajñā (譯)
About the work
A ten-fascicle late-Tang Mahāyāna sūtra translation by 般若 Prajñā (b. 734), the late-Tang Indian translator at the imperial bureau under Dé-zōng. Preserved in the Taishō as T261. Ten fascicles. The Sanskrit title is Mahāyāna-naya-ṣaṭ-pāramitā-sūtra — the Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Six Perfections in their Principle-Aim.
The sūtra is a substantial late-Indian Mahāyāna scripture that systematically expounds the six pāramitās (the six perfections) — dāna (giving), śīla (morality), kṣānti (forbearance), vīrya (effort), dhyāna (meditation), prajñā (wisdom) — through the late-Indian naya (principle-aim) hermeneutical lens that emphasises both the kōng dimension of Prajñā and the Vajrayāna-influenced ritual-symbolic dimensions of each pāramitā.
Abstract
T261 is one of Prajñā’s major Tang translation projects and a primary witness to the late-Tang transmission of late-Indian Mahāyāna doctrinal-and-ritual synthesis. The work occupies an important place in the broader Tang esoteric Buddhist literature — alongside Amoghavajra’s earlier translations of the Lǐqù jīng (T243) and the Vajraśekhara-sūtra — and provides a more elaborated Mahāyāna naya discourse than the shorter Amoghavajra texts.
For the wider history, T261 documents: (i) the late-Tang continuation of esoteric Buddhist textual transmission after Amoghavajra’s death in 774; (ii) the late-Pāla-era Indian Buddhist naya (principle-aim) synthesis of Yogācāra, Madhyamaka, and Vajrayāna materials; and (iii) Prajñā’s particular role as the principal late-Tang transmitter of this synthesis to China.
The work circulated widely in subsequent Tang and Sòng Chinese Buddhist literature and was particularly important for the systematic doctrinal exposition of the six pāramitās — supplementing the briefer treatments in the standard Mahāprajñāpāramitā corpus and the Aṣṭasāhasrikā.
Composition date: Prajñā’s translation activity at the imperial bureau spans c. 788 (his arrival in Cháng’ān) to c. 810. The bracket notBefore 788 / notAfter 798 reflects the early phase of his translation work, before the major Sìshí Huáyán project that consumed the late 790s.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located of T261 specifically.
- For Prajñā and the late-Tang esoteric Buddhist textual transmission, see Charles D. Orzech, “Mahāvairocana, Vajrasattva, and the Humane King” and other essays.
- For the late-Pāla-era Indian Buddhist naya synthesis, Christian K. Wedemeyer, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions (New York: Columbia, 2013).
Links
- 般若 DILA
- CBETA T08n0261
- Dazangthings date evidence (800) — Taishō shinshū daizōkyō dating.
- Kanseki DB